Elihu Yale - The Great Welsh American

In Africa Travell'd

The only way to India by
sea was around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of
Africa. The voyage took six months. There must have been
frequent sightings of the mysterious continent and no
doubt the necessity to land to obtain water and fresh
supplies of fruit and vegetables. Cape Town would have
been a normal stopping place. Although his acquaintance
with Africa was so slight he could not resist the
temptation of referring to it when writing his Epitaph.

In Asia
wed, where long he liv'd and thriv'd

Elihu Yale
arrived in India on 23 June 1672 where he was to remain
for almost 27 years, sailing for England on 22 February
1699. In these formative years of the East India Company
Elihu's contribution was of the greatest significance.
The Company had received its charter from Elizabeth I in
1600. Its main competitors were Portuguese, Dutch and
later French. In 1640 the Company built a trading port on
the east coast of Southern India, Fort St. George, the
site of the great city of Madras. In 1672 Elihu Yale
landed there and found about 300 English with some 3,000
Portuguese living under their protection. Fort St. George
was important as an independent base for commerce and
diplomacy with the Indian rulers, particularly with a
Mogul Emperor. In 1667 Charles II gave the island of
Bombay to the Company. By 1689 the Company, with growing
confidence, planned its future stating that it 'must make
us a nation in India. Without that we are but a great
number of interlopers united by his majesty's royal
charter, fit only to trade where nobody of power thinks
it their interest to prevent us'. In the 17th century the
Company persistently attempted to trade with Japan,
China, Siam and Formosa. By the 1690s its trade with
China began to flourish: lead and woollen goods were
sold, and tea, spices and silk bought. The years Elihu
Yale spent with the Company were a time of expansion,
consolidation and the establishment of new markets.

Like many other famous
men he found his true character in India. Self discipline
and self education developed his talents for business. He
devoted himself to the affairs of the Company and won
steady promotion. In 1681 the Madras Company sent him to
look for a concession of trade in the Mahratta country
'upon the receipt of which was fired 21 guns, and 11 guns
for Mr Elihu Yale for his good services and the success
he had in the management of the business he went about'.
In 1684 he was appointed Acting Governor and three years
later Governor of Fort St. George.

As Governor he ruled
over a large population of Hindus, maintained the
military and civil affairs of the Fort and communicated
with the Company's headquarters both at home and the
subcontinent. His main concerns were the expansion of
trade, negotiations of treaties and the maintenance of
good relations with the Mogul and foreign ambassadors in
the face of their traditional enemies the Dutch and the
French. Yale's official correspondence as Governor
preserved in the India Office papers, show that the
Company chose wisely but he had enemies in the Council of
Fort St. George who complained to the Directors of the
Company. Factions in the Council led to Yale's
replacement as Governor in 1692.

Elihu remained in Fort
St. George while his brother Thomas returned to London to
press Elihu's case to the attention of the Privy Council.
The matter was debated in Parliament and the East India
Company's activities were investigated. Before Elihu
departed he found an ally in Thomas Pitt with whom he was
to engage for years in a profitable diamond business.
News of the death of his brother Thomas in October 1697
in Wrexham, reached Elihu and he decided to quit India.
On 22 February 1699 he sailed for London with a rich
cargo. 'He was permitted to take five tons of a most
valuable cargo, including spices, precious stones,
leather goods and oriental screens'.

Yale was accused of
supporting his brother Thomas Yale who was alleged to
have committed certain frauds in his trading operations,
of arbitrary government, neglect of duty and of using the
Company's funds for private speculation.

Thomas was Elihu's
younger brother who had established himself as a Merchant
and traded in India with Elihu's help.

In Asia
Wed

On 4 November 1680, the
first entry in the register of the new Church of St. Mary
in Fort St. George was the marriage of Elihu Yale to
Catherine Hynmer, a widow with four children whose
husband had been the 'second' member of the Council.
Joseph Hynmer left his wife two thirds of his small
fortune of 14,000 pagodas.

Joseph Hymer's legacy
financed Elihu's successful speculation in precious
stones and diamonds. The advancement of Elihu dates
from his marriage which was blessed with four children,
three daughters, Catherine, Anne and Ursula survived. Unfortunately a son David
died soon after birth and Catherine decided to take her
children home to England in 1689. Elihu's biographer
notes a change in the Governor's manner from this date.
Before 'he was respected, modest, faithful and trusted',
after the separation 'he was domineering, opinionated,
aggressive and unable to hold the confidence or the
respect of other members of the Joseph Hynmer's legacy
financed Elihu's successful speculation in precious
stones and diamonds.

The advancement of
Elihu dates from his marriage which was blessed with four
children, three daughters, Catherine, Anne and Ursula
Council'. Elihu had found consolation in a liaison with
Hieronoma, widow of Jaques de Paivia, a wealthy
Portuguese diamond merchant.

A son of the union,
Charles was buried in Cape town in 1712 aged twenty-one.
When Elihu returned to England he and Catherine lived
separate lives. She died in February 1728 at the age of
seventy-seven.